Jack D’Or has upset his more-fancied rivals Panthalassa and Sodashi, returning to the track to claim the G2 Sapporo Kinen on Sunday.

The son of Maurice started third favourite and sat just off the pace set by Panthalassa. In a gripping finale to the 2000-metre race, he and jockey Yusuke Fujioka challenged the front-runner soon after straightening for home. After a stirring battle over the final 200 metres, there was just a neck separating Jack D’Or and Panthalassa, while there was another one and half lengths back to Win Marilyn in third.

Sodashi, the enormously popular four-year-old white mare, travelled midfield and loomed briefly as a threat at the top of the straight, but her run petered out late and she could only finish fifth, edged out for fourth by outsider Arata.

Dual G1 Hong Kong International Vase winner Glory Vase was sixth.

Jack d'Or🇯🇵 (Maurice🇯🇵 @ArrowfieldStud – Ravarino🇺🇸, Unbridled's Song🇺🇸) (2018) wins the SAPPORO KINEN G2 over 10F. A 4yo son of Maurice beats 4 individual G1Ws including mG1W, Sodashi, and dual G1W in HK, Glory Vase. This is a G1 form.pic.twitter.com/l6UBSWz3lH

— Toshi Onikubo (鬼窪峻大) (@toshionikubo) August 21, 2022

It is a second career Group 2 win for Jack D’Or, who won the G2 Kinko Sho earlier this year and has now won seven of his 11 starts. His only defeat of his four-year-old year to date has come in April’s G1 Osaka Hai, where he was fifth.

Trained by Kenichi Fujioka, Jack D’Or is out of imported mare Ravarino, who has international Group One winners Alverta and State Of Rest on her pedigree page.

Panthalassa, a winner of the G1 Dubai Turf in March, was having his first start since finishing eighth in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen in June, a race which Sunday’s third-placed horse Win Marilyn ran seventh in.

Only a Group 2: Sapporo Kinen provides ideal balance for Sodashi and co